English Literary Terms

Front 1

sequence or series of events in narratives

Back 1

Plot

Front 2

the series of evnets leading to the turing point

Back 2

rising action

Front 3

the turing point in a story

Back 3

climax

Front 4

the series fo events that follows the turing point of a narrative

Back 4

falling action

Front 5

a piece of writing ment to explain something (most common at the beginning of a story)

Back 5

exposition

Front 6

example givin

Back 6

e.g.

Front 7

the final outcome of a story

Back 7

resolution

Front 8

the final outcome of a story, unraveling of the plot

Back 8

denouement

Front 9

doubtfullness or uncertany as it regards interpretation, usually a stament that is subject to more than one interpretation

Back 9

ambiguity

Front 10

the method an author uses to develope a character
4 basic ways to develope a character: ~exposition
~actions
~dialogue
~thoughts

Back 10

characterization

Front 11

the attitude the author adopts (sometimes referred to as mood)

Back 11

tone

Front 12

the time and location in which the events in a story take place

Back 12

setting

Front 13

a person, place, or thing used to represent something else

Back 13

symbol

Front 14

the message the authoris trying to convey or communicate to the reader
(MUST be put in sentence form)

Back 14

theme

Front 15

topics

Back 15

thematic subjects

Front 16

the perspective form which the story is told: 1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person

Back 16

point of veiw

Front 17

the story is told by one or more characters in the story(the narrator is on some level of participation, or contributor to, the action)

Back 17

first person

Front 18

the reader is a participant or contibutor to the story

Back 18

second person

Front 19

the story is told by someone outside of the story

Back 19

third person

Front 20

the story is told by an all-knowing point of veiw

Back 20

omniscient point of veiw

Front 21

the author chooses to tell the story in the third person and yet persent it as it is seen and undersood by a single character

Back 21

limited omniscient point of view

Front 22

the giving of human traits to animals, inatimate objects, or things

Back 22

personification

Front 23

a comparision between two unlike things, using "like" or "as" or "seems"

Back 23

similie

Front 24

a direct comparision between unlike things

Back 24

metaphor

Front 25

the giving of hints or clues to what happens later on in a story

Back 25

foreshadowing

Front 26

an extreme exaggeration

Back 26

hyperbole

Front 27

a struggle between opossing forces, basic types of struggles: ~individual & nature
~individual & society
~individul & another individual
~individual & him/herself

Back 27

conflict

Front 28

a statement that contradicts itself

Back 28

paradox

Front 29

a condensed form of a paradox in which two condradicting words are used together

Back 29

oxymoron

Front 30

a type or catagory

Back 30

genre

Front 31

the main character in the story, not necessarily the "good guy"

Back 31

protagonist

Front 32

the character of force in opposition to the main character

Back 32

antagonist

Front 33

perceptible by the senses, tangible

Back 33

concrete

Front 34

exists only in concept and is not perceptible by the senses

Back 34

abstract

Front 35

intelectual and emotional images a word evokes

Back 35

connotation

Front 36

definition of a word

Back 36

denotation

Front 37

a lot of noise

Back 37

utterance

Front 38

when two or morethings are structured similarly

Back 38

parallelism

Front 39

the placing of two things side-by-side for either, comparison or contrast

Back 39

juxtaposition

Front 40

small world

Back 40

microcosm

Front 41

imarginary ideal world

Back 41

utopia

Front 42

bad place

Back 42

dystopia

Front 43

a recurrent, word, phrase, symbol, represented object, or idea (tends to unify the literary work and may be elaborated in to teh general theme)

Back 43

motif

Front 44

when the author starts a story in the middle of the action

Back 44

in medias res

Front 45

descriptive title

Back 45

epithets

Front 46

a list of people, places, or things

Back 46

cataloge

Front 47

poet uses indirect extended comparisions between unlike things

Back 47

epic similies

Front 48

a story involving a characters gradual change or transformation

Back 48

story arc OR character arc

Front 49

a reference to an outside work, book, art (can be real, fake, or fictional)

Back 49

allusion

Front 50

the quality or state of being generous

Back 50

munificence

Front 51

a set of versus or stanzas

Back 51

stave

Front 52

reference to a classical work

Back 52

classical allusion

Front 53

reference to work of Shakespear

Back 53

Shakesperian allusion

Front 54

reference to the Bible

Back 54

biblical allusion